~ of Sarah Marie Bacavis

Category Archives: Art and Projects

This has been a hotter than average summer, and dealing with the heat and no AC makes daytime-me a grouchy recluse who spends all her time awaiting the crisp air of autumn! Fortunately, the evenings and mornings are cool and I’ve been able to spend them creating things, writing my book, and spending time with friends in the park next door. (Hey, did you catch that? I wrote a book! You should go read about it here: Beyond the Bramble.

I’ve been doing a fair amount of sewing and accessory making. More and more of my closet is made up of my own creations and vintage clothing. I have this concept of a very theatrical, vaudevillian 1920s look for fall time, so I’m creating the pieces for that look. Crazy hats and velvet capes fit the bill nicely. I’ve even been working without a pattern (the cape and the blouse were made sans pattern) and trying to use up all the small yards of material I still have.

I like making aprons because they’re quick to whip up and they protect the clothing I make, since I am a messy cook and artist. The Egyptian apron in the second photo was a wedding gift for my new sister-in-law.

Sometimes, I stumble upon the most wonderful treasures at the thrift store. Although you could chalk it up to luck, I can’t help but feel like there are times that these treasures are there just for me. Last Sunday was one of those times. I had only planned to stop in for a quick minute to return some blouses I’d purchased on Friday. They were impulse buys and I hadn’t tried them on in the dressing room. Since I can’t just walk into a thrift store without giving the place a once over, I meandered to the back area where they have lamps. I was looking for a shade to decorate for our floor lamp but instead I found something far more unusual.

I found this…

I have been pining over a candlestick phone for quite awhile. Every time Detective Murdoch uses his in Murdoch Mysteries, I think about how much I’d prefer it to a smart phone. (Don’t try to reason with me! I have no desire to be practical.) At first, I wasn’t sure if it was actually a candlestick phone or just a fake one made into a lamp. When I went to pick it up it weighed a ton, which was a good sign. It didn’t take too much investigating to discover the words “Western Electric” stamped into the metal’s surface. It was real! And really hideous with all that gloppy gold paint on top.

I knew immediately that I had to buy it—for $5.99, no less—and return it to its former glory. (I had a glimmer of hope; just look at the ear piece and you can see the phone’s true color peeking through!) But how do you strip gold paint off a metal and Bakelite phone without killing every brain cell you have? I went with Citristrip for my toxic-chemical-of-choice. It is definitely less heinous, but still very strong smelling. I had to work outside because it gave me a terrible headache from the get-go.

It did not peel the paint off magically. It loosened it up and made it possible to scrub it off, but it wasn’t magical. It took me three hours, four steel wool soap pads, five tooth picks, six Q-tips, and two toothbrushes to remove all the gold paint. I was able to take the top apart and clean every part individually. This also allowed me to remove the remaining lamp pieces.

The finish beneath the paint has a gorgeous patina. I left a little gold paint around some of the text because it really highlighted the lettering in an attractive way.

I wiped the entire thing down with coconut oil and now it looks beautiful! I’ll buy some replacement cord, since the one it has is frayed and painted gold. I won’t be making any calls with it. But I feel compelled to take a stroll in the park with my phone like everyone else and pretend I’m taking a call. I can bring my typewriter along if I feel the need to text anyone 🙂

Last semester, I enrolled in a Jewelry and Metalworking course, and with the encouragement of an amazing instructor, I fell in love with metal. The first semester of class is full of mishaps- you melt wires, destroy bezels, burn yourself on a hot torch, and cry over the woes of cutting tiny jump rings that refuse to be flush.

Then, somewhere towards the end of the semester, you realize, wow, I have learned so much from all that frustration, and I love this! All the students in the course bounce ideas off one another and the encouragement is incredible. Nothing better than working in a room full of artisans. Some days, the room just surged with inspiration and artistic energy!

Paisley Pangolin

Copper was the metal that appealed the most to me, as it patinas and distresses beautifully. Creating my own art jewelry from sheets of metal and spools of wire is extremely liberating! I was able to blend my love of all things Natural History and my newly acquired skills to create pieces that appealed to my own personal aesthetics.

Flight of the Cicada

Since about 2007, I’ve been selling my art creations on Etsy and I wanted to design a line of handcrafted jewelry to introduce into my shop. After contemplating on what direction to go in, this is what I came up with – The Etched Menagerie:

I began by drawing sketches of various animals on a sheet of heavy copper. Victorian Woodblock prints were a heavy influence on my style here. After I was satisfied with my illustrations, I carefully cut out each copper shape and etched the image onto it. Because of the tiny details, I had to re-draw and re-etch most of them (while crying inside in frustration). Once the pieces were etched, I spent a lot of time at the grinding wheel smoothing edges and etch marks. To give the pieces an antiqued look, I used my favorite patina and played around with ways to apply it to the copper.

Cheetah necklace with shield toggle clasp

The effect of the patina was a rainbow-like one. The final pieces were finished with handmade findings and a heavy, antiqued copper chain.

Sea lion with sea urchin toggle clasp

Rhino with hand crafted toggle clasp

In a few weeks, I’ll be starting back up with my next metalworking course. I’ve already been contemplating so many new creations. I’m so eager to get back to working with metal and torches!